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.His hands slipped from Hunter"s grip, dropping to his sides.“This won"t work,” Mark said in a small voice.“It will.We only need to make it,” Hunter said.He reached outagain, but Mark flinched back another step, his movement carrying himinto the pool of light from the only streetlamp by Falcon Station.Hunter followed him, nevertheless, face hued a sickly greenish yellowby the neon light.“Mark, yarouhi, talk to me.You"re scaring me, here,” he said, hissmile fading.Mark swallowed.A church full of policemen noddingapproval at the manhandling of a weak, sick man.The suspicious lookCity Falcon199in Sean’s eyes.Two pale, nameless faces, turned to him in a silent plea.Susan’s cunning contempt.The words almost choked him, but he needed to get them outanyway.“Without the falcons, I won"t have an excuse to be with youanymore.People will gossip about me… us.McNally… what you saidthe other day… it"s all over the place already.If we continue seeingeach other, everybody will know….I can"t let that happen.” Heswallowed back the bitterness that rose in his throat.Hunter jerked as if Mark had hit him, a bout of raw pain twistinghis face.“You can"t be serious,” he whispered, his voice so forlorn itcut Mark like a knife.The numbness spread further, gripping Mark"s heart, slowing itdown.His ears rang with the silence as the pounding of his bloodsubsided.“You heard me,” he said.“This has to be over.I won"t letyou ruin my life.”Hunter closed his eyes.Mark watched with morbid fascination asthose features settled, hardened into a mere mask of stone, cold andunforgiving and painfully beautiful.The eyes staring at Mark from themask were cast-iron marbles.“Is this your last word?” Hunter asked,eerily calm.Mark"s jaw had locked by then.“Yes,” he hissed, forcing thesingle word past his clenched teeth.Hunter nodded once and turned, leaving the pool of light, takingout his keys as he went up the stairs.He opened the trailer door,stepped inside, and closed the door behind him.200Feliz FaberChapter 16MARK knew he should feel something.Sadness, perhaps.Maybe evenpain.Or a little tinge of regret, at the very least.But there was nothing.Nothing at all.He went to work, went through the motions, went home, ate if heremembered to, slept, and went to work again.Sean didn"t reprimandhim on his lack of focus anymore, so Mark figured he was doing okay,if he bothered to think about that at all.They didn"t talk a lot, outsideduty lately, what with Sean obsessed with the wedding and the househe and Alice were going to buy and Mark often volunteering forovertime.It didn"t matter.He didn"t consciously avoid the customs gym and the kennel,either.It was just that he didn"t feel like working out lately or likedealing with other people, even Evie.Come to think of it, he didn"t feel like anything at all, recently.Itwas odd, really.Then again, he couldn"t bring himself to worry abouthis lack of emotional reaction.Hunter was gone.The falcons weregone.His life was back to normal.IT WAS past nine in the evening on a slow day, and Mark"s shift wasalmost over.Sean was talking about his upcoming wedding, onceagain.Mark tuned out Sean"s chatter, absentmindedly scanning theInternational Departures hall.City Falcon201His sweeping look caught on two elderly gentlemen pushing aluggage cart together.They both appeared to be in their late sixties,were well-dressed, well-groomed and so obviously a couple that thesight sent a hot twinge through Mark"s frozen heart.As Mark watched,they stopped in front of a departures schedule.The taller one, a frail-looking, pale man, his bald pate peeking out of a fringe of silvery-whitehair, put an arm around his short, chubby, dark-haired companion andsmiled down at him.How long must those two have been together? Alifetime, based on the silent understanding passing between them.Markcould follow them as clearly as if they"d conversed with words.Don’t worry, love.I’ll be okay.I hope so, love.I’ll count the seconds until you’re back, though.The tall man bent down to touch foreheads with his companion.Both men had their eyes closed.Witnessing this incredibly intimate moment between strangersmade Mark"s ears heat up with embarrassment.At the same time, hischest went tight with something he refused to acknowledge.Heclenched his jaws and turned away.No, goddamn, he wouldn"t gothere.“Oh, cripes,” Sean muttered next to him, startling him.“Look atthose flamers.You"d think, at their age, they"d know better.”The tightness in Mark"s chest congealed into a burning hot lumpof instant fury.For once forgetting where he was, forgetting theuniform he wore, Mark jerked around, ready to lash out
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